We arrived in Georgetown on Friday, a stayed at a budget caravan park, which was very squeezy, but lots of large, shady trees and a very
friendly host. Just up the road there was a lovely park, next to the swimming pool, so in the afternoon, we walked to it and enjoyed a glass of wine at a table in the shade. Most tables were occupied, some people making use of the power and 3G, others finishing off their lunch. The park shows what can be done, if you want to create a lush, green environment, in this harsh climate.
The next day was just a short trip of under 100 kms, to Mt. Surprise, where I’m darned if I can see the mountain! The countryside from
Georgetown was very interesting, with some hills, prolific bush, with a lot of eucalypts, a winding, interesting drive.
There are a couple of cafes here, a service station with a store, a pub and three caravan parks! We are staying at Bedrock Village. The owners bought 9 acres of land, 16 years ago and they have turned a flat, treeless area into a park where each site has a tall screen of native and tropical plants, giving everyone complete privacy. There are also lots of birds in the park, with a pair of Red Wing Parrots using a tree on our site to roost during the day, a pair of Red Tail black Cockatoos feeding in a nearby tree, and a couple of Galahs feeding babies on the road to our site. The park prepares meals that are served every night. There is a large communal fireplace, but that is only lit when there is a singer. The park’s theme is of the Flintstone’s, and the toilets are labelled “Fred” and “Wilma”! We would definitely come back here again.
Undara Volcanic is the National Parks in the area which has extensive volcanic lava tubes, but you can only go and see them if you do a tour, run by this park or Undara Resort. Russ refused to pay for a tour in a National Park on principle, so today we went to a picnic area in the park, where there is a 2.5 km circuit walk to and around the Kalkami Volcanic Crater. Russ walked 600 metres up the side to the top of the crater, which is approximately 600 metres across. The crater is covered in trees and vegetation. The photo below shows the crater from the air, the picnic area is on the right side of the crater toward the back
In the meantime, I sat at a table in the picnic area and typed up this blog.
The picture on the left shows the crater dropping away from the path and the one on the right shows the tips of two volcanoes in the far distance, about 1-2 kms away. The eruption that created the lava tubes scorched an area of 5,500 square kilometres and the lava flow ran for 160 km, the longest flow in recent geological history. This happened about 190,000 years ago. The lava tubes occurred when the lava flowed along rivers.
Now that we have travelled east, the nights are very cold again, so the heater’s on at night. The days are absolutely perfect – 25 degrees or so and we are very comfortable.